In William Faulkner’s 1930 novel, As I Lay Dying, the character Darl Bundren muses, “how often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.” This theme of the tension between travel and the “pull” of home is often found within the novels of Mississippi’s authors, including the Nobel Prize laureate.

Featured in this case are items related to Faulkner’s epic tale of the final funeral journey of Addie Bundren to Jefferson, Mississippi, with its literal and figurative twists and turns. However, the showcased manuscript pages featuring the noteworthy title actually relate to another work written by the Mississippian eventually named, “Spotted Horses,” published in Scribner’s Magazine in 1931. Faulkner occasionally used titles interchangeably as he was drafting new fiction, until finally settling on one.

The displayed issue of Punch includes an early review of the British edition of the publication, highlighting the author’s international appeal. Tennessee Williams’ gifts with introspection into the human mind were fully realized in the featured 1950 work first published by New Directions, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. A dark tale of a widow’s “moral decline” in Rome, Italy, Williams’ work was brought to the big screen in 1961 with actress Vivien Leigh playing the title role. The star’s original mimeographed script is featured in this exhibit, along with several foreign editions of the work.

Eudora Welty’s fiction also frequently included travel, both within the United States, as was the case with the showcased “Moon Lake” manuscript, and abroad, including the 1948 Levee Press publication, Music From Spain.

Featured in the display:

• Eudora Welty

Notecard to Herschel Brickell, 4 December 1948

Book. Music from Spain (1948) with typed letter to Herschel Brickell, "There's a Spaniard in it."

Book. The Golden Apples with inscription to "Mr. E. M. Forster"

Manuscript page from Moon Lake

• Tennessee Williams

Editions of The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone: first edition, limited release edition, mass market edition

Translations: Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Spanish

Screenplay edition

• William Faulkner

Manuscript page from As I Lay Dying

First Editions (American and British) of As I Lay Dying

Short story. "Spotted Horses", published in Scribner's Journal (1931)

Punch magazine, 2 October 1935 (CLXXXIX, no. 4922)